A Complete Dog's Breakfast

I heard this quote from Alistair Begg while listening to Way of the Master Radio:

As Paul says, "Now Timothy, c'mon. I want you to guard this." It's the same word you'll find, incidentally, if your Bible is open to verse 14, of the first chapter of 2nd Timothy...guard the good deposit. God has, if you like, put a deposit in Timothy. He has deposited with Timothy. "Now Timothy, you look after that. When God asks about it, you better be able to produce it instantaneously and intact. Not meddled with. Not fooled with. Not dressed up. Not diminished. Intact." That he know the difference between an approach which sells the gospel as a commodity. Which goes to people and says essentially, "Would you like to have Jesus in your life?"

The person says, "Well, why exactly do you have this in mind?"

"Well, are you interested in joy?"

"Yeah, I like to be happy."

"What about peace?"

"I like peace."

"Direction?"

"I'm a purposeful sort of person."

"Fulfillment?"

"I like fulfillment. Oh, I see, if I just, where I am right now want joy and peace and direction and fulfillment I have Jesus in my life, is that it?"

"Yes," says the person.

They think they are doing a great job on the gospel now. They think they're explaining it very well.

The person says, "Well, what do you have to do?"

"You have to believe."

The person says, "Well, what do you have to believe?"

"You have to believe that Jesus is God's Son."

The person says, "Well, I already believe that Jesus is God's Son."

At this point the person will get in deep difficulty if they don't know the gospel, because by their definition this person is actually a Christian already. You see, because they want joy, peace, fulfillment, everything. They're happy to get it from Jesus Christ. You're supposed to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and they already believe that. The thing is a total dog's breakfast.

In case you're wondering, here's an explanation for a dog's breakfast.